Indian talent together with US technology guarantees brighter future: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the coming together of Indian talent and US's technological advancement guarantees a bright future as he met business honchos of the two countries at the White House.

"This morning (meeting) is only among a few friends but has brought with it the guarantee of a bright future," Modi said in his remarks at the India-US Hi-Tech Handshake Event as President Joe Biden nodded.

This is a great opportunity to take along President Biden's vision and capabilities and India's aspirations and possibilities, Modi said, thanking the US leader for his presence at the meeting.

He referred to the development as "honhaar, shandaar, dhardaar" in Hindi and said it will pave the way for a new future.

The meeting came at a time the two countries look to deepen their ties in the high-tech sector.

Prime Minister Modi said the coming together of Indian talent and US's technological advancement guarantees a bright future.

He said the business honchos have come from every sector-- from agriculture to space -- with some of them representing well-established forms while some others leading start-ups.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AMD CEO Lisa Su, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams were among the American representatives who participated in the meeting.

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, Zerodha and True Beacon co-founder Nikhil Kamath and 3rdiTech co-founder Vrinda Kapoor joined the meeting as part of the India business delegation.

On his part, Biden said their partnership will ensure a free, more secure and prosperous future for our children.

"Our cooperation matters, not just for our people but quite frankly to the whole world, as our partnership is about more than the next breakthrough or the next deal as big as they may be," Biden said.

It is about tackling climate change, about exploring the universe, about lifting people out of poverty, preventing pandemics and giving our citizens real opportunity, the president added.

Modi's four-day state visit to the US have been dubbed historic and path-breaking by Indian officials and is being seen as a breakthrough in India's quest to get the US to agree to critical cooperation in cutting-edge technologies including their transfer and joint research.